Question

Mohan got very much excited to visit his home town Kolkata after 5 years. On his way to his house from the railway station he saw that almost all small ponds were covered with some green weed.

(a) What could be the reason of this green cover?

(b) What damages does it cause to the ecology?

Answer 1

(a) The ponds were covered with a water weed which is commonly called as water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes).

(b) It propagates vegetatively by offsets at an alarming rate thereby spreading all over the water, totally covering it within a short period. Its thick cover over the water body Prevents light entering the water and reduces the oxygen level of water. This results into the death of fishes and aquatic life in greatly disturbed.